Dons slip to Canterbury at home.

Wimbledon had won narrowly at Canterbury last September and the visitors were intent on not repeating that result in this return fixture. Wimbledon started well, scoring tries through scrum half Tim Ridler in the fifth and tenth minutes, the first a lineout and driving maul try and the second after an attack down the right wing. Both tries were converted by Edward Morgan with difficult kicks.

After this the visitors shook off the effects of their coach journey and getting possession from a maul spread the play wide giving a try for their fullback. This try was soon followed up another for Canterbury when a missed tackle opened a gap for their flanker Waddington to score under the posts. A breathless start with four tries in 16 minutes! Canterbury got their third try courtesy again of Waddington to take the lead 14 – 24. The strong wind was making conversions difficult for both sides.

What impressed from the start was the way Canterbury varied their line of attack and chased the kicks from their outside half to put pressure on the home team. This pressure paid off as it left Wimbledon struggling for long periods to get out of their own half. But winger Brad Pinkham and Edward Morgan were able to find gaps and score tries to give a half time score of Wimbledon 26 - Canterbury 24 and an important try bonus point.

Sadly after just five minutes from the restart, Canterbury were able to take the lead following a driving maul. With the score at Wimbledon 26 - Canterbury 29, came the try of the match, a 95-metre effort diagonally from near one goal line to the other across the pitch. Unfortunately for the home team it was scored by Canterbury wing. This was followed up four minutes later by tries by a Canterbury replacement Cooper and then their final try on 68 minutes. However, Tomasz Pozniak on the right wing for Wimbledon had crossed over wide out after a sustained attack and new recruit, hooker Devlin Hope had the last word scoring in the 76th minute. Both tries unconverted.

The final judgement for this match was that it was pulsating and with eight tries scored by the visitors and six by the home team nobody could complain of not being entertained, but the end result was that Wimbledon gained only a try bonus point for all their efforts.